Trump Reportedly Hid Details of His Talks from Putin from His Own Staff

President Donald Trump reportedly hid details of conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin from his own staff.

At one point, he even reportedly took the interpreter’s notes from the meeting and ordered the interpreter to keep quiet.

Trump’s efforts to hide the talks was revealed after administration officials tried to get information about the conversation — beyond what was provided by then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — from the interpreter.

WaPo reports:

President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said.

Trump did so after a meeting with Putin in 2017 in Hamburg that was also attended by then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. U.S. officials learned of Trump’s actions when a White House adviser and a senior State Department official sought information from the interpreter beyond a readout shared by Tillerson.

The Post also reported that Trump’s alleged concealment has led to there being no detailed record — even classified accounts — of Trump’s meeting with the Russian leader at five different location over the past two years.

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Just as AG Barr indicated during the nomination process, there won't be investigative details that were declined for prosecution released by the DOJ in regards to Mueller's investigation. Congress and the public will only see the charges they pursued for indictment. It is against the DOJ rules to discuss the details of investigations that cannot be prosecuted. Comey did it with Clinton, but it is never supposed to happen. He did it only to exonerate her inappropriately and against the advice of the chief DOJ Counsel James Baker. Rosenstein said today that AG Barr will do the right thing and elaborated on his understanding of the matter:“The guidance I always gave my prosecutors and the agents I worked with during my tenure on the front lines of law enforcement were if we aren’t prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court,” Rosenstein said, “then we have no business making allegations against American citizens.”